Peaches is gone

I found out yesterday that Peaches had died two months ago.
He was a fantastic cat. The most cuddly thing one could imagine.
He was so sweet and never vicious.. and he got along great with Chip
(his polar opposite).I will forever feel guilty for leaving my babies
behind but I had to move on with my life.
I left them with great cat lovers and I know they got the best love
and care a cat could get...
but I still wish I could've spent more time with them.
Photos of peaches:

F.A.T

So.. apparently I am fat... well actually, according to my students I am "VERY FAT"..
In case you haven't heard.. people in Vietnam are stick figures
The women are GORGEOUS and proud of keeping their bodies nice and slim.
And they actually have a waist! not those Asian boy-body types...

All this doesn't really help my self esteem..
*I get grabbed a lot.. by women.. who have never touched fat before.
*I am insulted by my students when asking them about adjectives,
they use me as an example to describe what fat means.
*I keep getting asked what sports I play (I say Yoga).
*Viets keep staring at me when I eat to see what I am putting in my mouth.
*When I say I am not married they ask me if it's because I am fat.
*little kids like to squeeze mi bum.
*Another thing these kids do is hug me at my waist then place their face right in my belly...

SO.. I HAVE DECIDED TO TAKE EXTREME MEASURES AND GO ON A DIET!
But I am doing it differently this time.. no weight watchers.. just cutting off the sweets
and using a bicycle to get around town.(which means about 12 km a day)
I think I have lost 1 kilo this week alone and I can already feel my belly has gone done.

And of course.. what was my students reaction when I told them I was on a diet:
"ohhh you look for boyfriend"

Why can't fat be beautiful?

9 more kilos to go and am doing it for myself and no one else!
(ohh maybe also so I can fit into the clothes and cause I want to start wearing jeans)

My Holiday

So.. We got 9 days off from work for "Lunar/Chinese New Year". February 4th till 13th.
I decided to take an extra 10 days off and go on a long trip to Thailand.. I really needed the break..
Thailand wasn't as great as I wanted it to be, so I ended up taking a detour through Cambodia.
Here are things I loved and hated about my trip, photos to come next post.

10 THINGS I LOVED ABOUT MY TRIP

1. Touching a tiger in Kanchanaburi.
2. Bamboo rafting/Elephant riding in Kanchanaburi.
3. Drinking cheap fruit shakes everywhere I went.
4. Bangkok's street food (pad thai, bbq squid, fruit...)
5. Checking out handsome muscular Thai Rock Climbers in Railay
6. Beautiful tropical limestone mountained peninsula, Railay
7. Beautiful clear watered beaches of Ko Phi Phi
8. Joking around with cute little Cambodian panhandlers/merchants (in perfect English).
9. Feeling like I was in an Indiana Jones movie while climbing temples in Ankor Wat
10.Enjoying a night out on the town in Siem Reap

10 THINGS I HATED ABOUT MY TRIP

1. Realizing that the tigers were probably drugged and constantly tied up.
2. Bamboo rafting/Elephants only lasted 10 minutes just to satisfy tourists
3. I really hope there weren't too many calories in those fruit shakes
4. Couldn't afford eating in real restaurants in Bangkok.
5. Finding out I was the only person wearing a full bathing-suit.
6. Railay looked really ugly when tide time came and had a huge disposal area in the middle of it.
7. Ko Phi phi was so EXPENSIVE!!!! and full of drunken Euro-trash kids.
8. I wish I had shoes to give all the little Cambodian kids, most of them were barefoot.. sad :(
9. Wishing Japanese tourist would stop blocking my view every time I want to take a photo.
10. SPENDING WAY too much money on this trip.. my budget ended one week into the trip.. so am broke again !!!

Christmas in Hanoi

Two months late posting this blog, but alas.

Xmas in Hanoi was rather weird, in some ways, for me, it was the most festive Christmas I've ever had.
First, I had to actually celebrate the holiday with my students and talk to them about Christmas customs. Mind
you all that I grew up in a country where Christmas does NOT exist and though my family is strictly atheist, we do consider
ourselves J.E.W's. I kept telling people that I don't celebrate this holiday and they didn't understand.. because for them, I'm white.
Second, I went to more Xmas parties here than I had ever in the States (just Christie's staff parties.. seeing preppie girls get drunk.. definitely do not miss that).
Third, I actually played Secret Santa with my students and taught them Xmas songs.
Here are a few XMAS in Hanoi photos:

Our "Class Christmas tree".. the board + presents
Pre-Intermediate 2 spreading Christmas cheers:

The mall in Hanoi, Christmas eve.. I guess their holiday tradition is to go to the mall and take photos of themselves in front of a tree.. I've got tons of photos of Viets taking photos at the mall.

another mall photo (damn that western influence, I love their communist flag next to the Merry Christmas):

Day Tripper

Last Tuesday, my roommate Sarah and I decided to go on a little "Scooter Road Trip" Hanoi style.
But first, of course, before heading out, just as I turned left from our Alley, we noticed I had a flat tire!! how typical of me.
It's quite common here, because there is a man sitting with a pump, glue and a bucket of water, on every street corner.
So luckily, I only had to drive half a block to get help. (See photo above: How to repair flat tire in Hanoi)
We rode our little Honda waves till the outskirts of Hanoi,
crossed an enormous bridge and found ourselves on a Vietnamese Highway.
We got off and started riding our bikes around some farms and fields
Saw some buffalos and chickens. What an adventure, haha :)
(see photo above of field and farmer,wearing a Viet hat).
On the way back, I saw a man riding a motorbike with a medium sized cage behind him,
stuffed with dogs that seemed dehydrated or dead... I knew exactly where those dogs were going..
I started crying.. I couldn't stop looking into their eyes..
I'm sorry, but eating man's best friend is just too cruel.. especially the way these animals are treated..

Well hopefully next time, I'll drive more than 5 km out of Hanoi.....

Strange things you find at the supermarket

Weird things you find at the supermarket...
1. funny clothes hanging pins
2. tooth pig holder (haha! a pun! tooth pick)
3. huge strange and tasty fruit

More to come....

WORMS

OK, we all know I am a crazy vegetarian.. But today I ate some thing that I had always wanted to try (or at least wanted to try cause I've seen it on TV).
I ATE WORMS!!! I think they were silk worms, they were rather small.. fried.. not live.... It was DISGUSTING!!!! Please don't try this at home...
P.S - I don't really think worms are "animals" so no lectures please... besides, they die after making silk...